Orange Tree

This past week I had the pleasure of walking a labyrinth. I don’t know if you’ve ever walked a labyrinth. Most people think it looks like a maze. However, it’s not a maze. It only has one path to the center and the same path out. One purpose of walking a labyrinth is to go on a journey and rid of all the noise in our head so we can listen to God. I often focus on a word such as hope, joy, or Emmanuel. Once you reach the center then you are blessed to let go, sit down, and listen to God. Ideally, after you find peace with God in the center, on the journey out of the labyrinth, you can focus on how you can take that peace into the world.

As I was on the way out of the labyrinth I had not accomplished my ultimate goal. The noise in my head was still loud. I was actually looking at an orange tree off in the distance and thinking about how I really wanted to pick an orange from the tree before I left. While thinking this I stopped on the path for a moment, looked up to the heavens, and said, “Why can’t I simply be quiet.” Looking upwards I noticed that there was an orange tree right over my head. I had already walked the whole labyrinth and hadn’t noticed. And there was a tree right over my head. I noticed it after I had that desire.

As I paused I thought, “In life how often do we tend to only see what we’re looking for?"

We try to see what God wants for our life. We try to see where God is leading us. We try to be open to God's time and not our own. Yet, we can't help but look with a very focused lens. We tend to look for what we're looking for... we can't see the whole picture?

Lent is a time for renewal. Let's take time to renew our understanding of God and how we see God at work in our lives. Sometimes there is an orange tree right over your head - and you didn't even see it!